According to Jay

Balance: Working Towards a Healthy Relationship with Food

Growing up my mom always used to say “de tudo um pouco” which essentially means everything in moderation. From experience with clients and friends it shocks me to see how many people still demonise certain foods or feel guilt when eating certain things like pizza or chocolate. Don’t get me wrong guys, there is an element of discipline required in order to achieve your fitness goals which means you can’t always eat exactly what you want but that shouldn’t mean that you never allow yourself to enjoy a few treats.

Basically:

If you eat more energy than you burn you will put on weight

If you eat the same amount of energy that you burn you will maintain weight

If you eat less energy than you burn then you will lose weight

Now this is a massive oversimplification but I’ve used it to illustrate the fact that if you eat well most of the time the occasional treat won’t derail your progress. In fact allowing yourself the occasional treat can help keep you sane and help you stick to your routine in the long run. I have found through personal experience and through closely following the journey’s of others that when our diets are too restrictive it leads to binging, feelings of guilt and the use of extreme methods to try to undo the damage.

Allowing for flexibility in your diet also means that you don’t have to avoid social events or feel anxious about them. Now with the ability to track macros through the use of apps such as MyFitnessPal it is even possible to fit these treats into your diet without being in a calorie surplus thus allowing you to still work towards your goals.

Guys what balance looks like will be different for every individual and finding it may be a case of trial and error but its important to find what works for you and not looking at food as an enemy. If you feel that your diet is too restrictive and you’re finding it hard to stick to it will be unlikely that it will work out for you in the long-term. Remember consistency is key, being consistent in the long term is much better than bursts of being perfect. Taking an approach which allows for balance between doing what you need to do to achieve your goals and allowing you the ability to enjoy a treat can be the key to helping you be consistent.